The Delta Grassroots Caucus (DGC) is a broad coalition of grassroots leaders in the eight-state Delta region. DGC is also a founding partner of the Economic Equality Caucus,which advocates for economic equality across the USA.

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Delta Grassroots Caucus Events

US Senator Thad Cochran, Mississippi, speaking to a Delta Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill. Sen. Cochran is retiring in 2018. The Delta Caucus and EEC would like to express our deep appreciation to Sen. Cochran for his decades of bipartisan, statesmanlike leadership for Mississippi, the Greater Delta, and our country.

Credit Michael Hibblen/ KUAR News, Arkansas Public Radio; Former President Bill Clinton speaking to the Delta Grassroots Caucus on May 2, 2013, at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, Little Rock

U. S. Senator John Boozman, Arkansas, at a Delta Grassroots Caucus meeting at the US Capitol

Delta Caucus contacts for planning of the Sept. 21-23 Washington, DC conference will be Desha County Judge Mark McElroy (office is 870-877-2426, cell is 870-222-8440); Mayor Barrett Harrison of Blytheville, Arkansas; Martha Ellen Black of the Susanna Wesley Family Learning Center in Missouri (573-683-0783); and Delta Caucus staff assistant Preston Ferguson (240) 993-9999. Lee Powell has been hospitalized with blood clots in his lungs and it is not known how long the recovery will take.

Mr. Powell was in intensive care from Monday to Thursday, Sept. 16, but then shifted to a regular hospital room, so the worst is over, hopefully. This was totally unexpected because Mr. Powell had absolutely no history of blood clots. He went to a doctor several weeks ago with shortness of breath, a cough and fatigue, but the problem was incorrectly diagnosed as a relapse of bronchitis, so the existence of the clots remained unknown for all that time until acute distress led to tests revealing the clots, which had expanded into life-threatening embolisms in the lungs. In any event, Mr. Powell survived the worst of it and presumably will be back in the saddle at some point and Judge McElroy, Mayor Harrison and Martha Ellen Black will fill in until then.

Doctors indicated that the clots were likely caused by Powell’s extensive travels by car throughout the Delta, followed by a lengthy return trip from Arkansas to Washington, DC by car, during which time his foot was inactive and clots probably formed.

For any questions about the Sept. 21-23 schedule of anything else about the conference, contact either the coordinators listed above or see the website at www.mdgc.us, which has extensive information about the information. Click on the link at “Caucus Articles” for a lengthy list of articles on a wide variety of Delta regional issues.

Federal Cochair of the Delta Regional Authority, Chris Masingill (President Obama’s appointee to the DRA, recently confirmed by the US Senate) 6:10 to 6:30

Dr. Mario Cruz-Penate, INVITED, Pan American Health Organization, Regional Adviser for Health Systems; World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office of the Americas; the Pan American Health Organization is a strong supporter of the Community Health House Network

Stephen Copley, Arkansas Justice For Our Neighbors; Methodist minister active in outreach for Hispanic population in the Delta

SESSION ON REBUILDING AFTER KATRINA AND THE OIL DISASTER IN THE GULF; RENEWABLE ENERGY
Thursday morning, Sept. 23, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., historic sanctuary of the Lutheran Church of the Reformation on Capitol Hill near the US Supreme Court, 212 East Capitol

8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.

8:30 to 8:45 a.m.: Congressman Charlie Melancon, Louisiana; Rep. Melancon represents the Louisiana coast and is at the forefront of rebuilding efforts after Katrina and the oil disaster; if he is in Louisiana that morning he will address the group from there over the audio system

8:45 a.m. to 9:10 a.m.–Washington, DC Leaders Who Worked on the Gulf Coast after Katrina–these speakers will talk briefly about their experiences after Katrina:
8:45 to 8:50– Deacon Katherine Miller-Holland, Director, Church and Community Ministries, Coordinator, Lutheran Disaster Response, LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES, of the National Capital Area, Washington, DC (Ms. Holland helped evacuees from Katrina who moved to the Washington, DC area)

Rev. Dwight Webster, survivor of Hurricane Katrina, senior pastor at Christian Unity Baptist Church, a large, predominantly African American church in central New Orleans; Rev. Webster will be joined by his son, Amir Webster, Howard University student from New Orleans–a young leader who plans to return to New Orleans after graduation;

Disaster Relief, Health Care and other Issues in Long-Term Rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina and the Oil Disaster, 10:45 a.m. to 12:15

Natalie Jayroe, CEO, Second Harvest Food Bank of New Orleans and Acadiana, Louisiana

James Lee Witt & Associates (James Lee Witt was FEMA Director in the Clinton administration), either James Lee Witt or one of his senior associates;

Darryl Willis, Vice President for Resources, BP corporation, Louisiana
11 a.m.– 5. Thomas Oppel, senior assistant to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, President Obama’s chief of the Gulf Economic Recovery Plan; Mr. Oppel is Secretary Mabus’ chief assistant in charge of the Gulf Coast recovery, formerly was an aide in Mississippi when Ray Mabus was Governor of Mississippi;

James Miller, Managing Director, Community Health House Network, (James Miller has held extensive meetings in Louisiana with local leaders about the Health Houses as a solution to long-term health issues caused by the oil disaster.

Some speakers may be moved to the luncheon time slot, depending on how the timing develops.

LUNCHEON SPEAKERS ON RENEWABLE ENERGY AND OTHER ISSUES–12:15 TO 1:45 P.M.

Dr. Aaron Shirley, medical doctor and civil rights movement pioneer, nonprofit Jackson Medical Mall Foundation in Mississippi, leader of the innovative Community Health House Network initiative that is being organized to deal with the health care problems generated by the oil disaster and its economic devastation for Louisiana;

Great River Economic Development Foundation and City of Blytheville, Arkansas

Desha County Judge Mark McElroy

Dumas, Arkansas Chamber of Commerce

The City of Sikeston, Missouri

The Edgenics Corp., a national company that promotes broadband access in the Delta

American Agriculture Movement of Arkansas

Delta Citizens Alliance, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas

McGehee Housing Authority

Heifer International

Boys, Girls and Adults Community Development Center, Phillips County, Arkansas

The City of Pine Bluff, Arkansas

Helena National Bank

DELTA GRASSROOTS CAUCUS PARTNERS

Last but not least, we would like to thank the literally hundreds of people who made smaller contributions in the range of $50, $85 and $100 in the form of membership fees, registration fees and other contributions. For a grassroots regional coalition, we need to have a diversified, broad base of financial support from large numbers of relatively small contributions. The large number of these contributions really adds up to a major part of our budget, and we could not do our work without these donations.